President Prodi and Mr Wim Kok announce the establishment of the High-level Group on the Lisbon Strategy

President Prodi and Mr Wim Kok announce the establishment of the High-level Group on the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy in 2005. The decision to set up this Group was taken by the European Council last March. Its remit is to make proposals to the Commission to give renewed stimulus to the Lisbon strategy and to improve actual delivery. The Group will be chaired by Mr Wim Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands and will be made up of leading figures representing the different stakeholders (trade unions, business, political authorities, academics). It will report to the Commission by 1 November next.

In accordance with the conclusions of the March European Council, the European Commission has just set up a High-level Group on the Lisbon Strategy, to be chaired by Mr Wim Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

This Group is to look into ways of injecting fresh stimulus into the Lisbon strategy, in particular by improving delivery of the objectives set and by involving Member States and stakeholders more closely. It will also be assessing the instruments and methods used so far.

The High-level Group will report to the Commission by 1 November next. The report will help the Commission in preparing proposals for the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy to be included in its spring report to the European Council in March 2005.

The Group will be made up of thirteen independent figures representing the different stakeholders.

Mr Wim Kok, Chairman,

Mr Romain Bausch,

Mr Niall Fitzgerald,

Mr Antonio Gutiérrez,

Mr Will Hutton,

Ms Ane-Marie Idrac,

Ms Wanja Lundby-Wedin,

Mr Thomas Mirow,

Mr Bedrich Moldan,

Mr Luigi Paganetto,

Mr Dariusz Rosati,

Mr Veli Sundbäck,

Mr Friedrich Verzetnitsch

The Lisbon strategy, as set out by the March 2000 European Council, is designed to make the European Union into the world's most dynamic and competitive economy by 2010, capable of strong growth, with more and better jobs and a sustainable environment. A number of sectoral targets were set in order to achieve this ambitious objective. But both the Commission, in its spring 2004 report, and the European Council, in its conclusions, note that delivery of these objectives is inadequate. This delay will ultimately harm European growth and employment. The mid-term review planned for 2005 should provide an opportunity for strengthening the process and actual delivery.

Further information will be available shortly on the Lisbon strategy website